While they were waiting for the geth body to arrive, dodging the paparazzi and saying goodbye to the scientists, who couldn't wait to get back to their homes and families after all this time, Joker noticed that not all was rosy in Jo's world. Quite often she would stop talking in the middle of a phrase and sink deep into thoughts, as if remembering too many things at once. Joker worried if she'd be fine, even though in his head he knew that this was normal and could be expected on the first day of being resurrected. She simply needed more time to adjust. After all, she'd managed once before, and this time she was far better off already.
Jo familiarised herself with the lab and Joker almost did club her over the head when she subtly nudged the geth Prime about the possibility of not only cloning DNA here but actually reviving someone who was dead. To his deepest dismay it seemed that Horat Farin with his scientific interest in the topic, had indeed made such a thing possible. Damned curious genius salarian.
A week, he said to himself. He'd give her a week to acclimatise before he'd get on her case about her plans to resurrect the evil clone. She'd get seven days of reprieve but not more. They needed to have a serious talk.
The scientists left in a hurry and Jo sent the security team away, too. Once the crate with the geth body arrived, she locked all the doors and joined the Prime in one of the labs. Legion had told her that the knowledge about how to extract the seed from Jo's brain would be included, so Joker let her work when she began putting together scanners and sensors to create a pod. About an hour later she was done, the geth body was hooked to the machine and the Prime was monitoring all sensors. Joker sat back and nervously watched her step into the pod and let it scan her. Then she closed her eyes and sagged down a little. For about ten minutes nothing happened. Then she opened her eyes, exited the pod and stood in front of the geth body, looking at it with tense expectation. Joker and the Prime joined her, not exactly sure what to expect. Joker honestly admitted that he jumped in fear when the small geth unit suddenly jerked, powered up and unfolded itself to its full height. Light flashed across the synthetic body, its limbs jolted a little, but then the creature focused its flashlight eye on the three of them.
The light blinked. Then blinked a few more times. Then a low, melodic voice declared:
"I am."
"Yes, you are," Jo exhaled in relief. Joker detected a strange, wet softness in her voice and upon looking at her discovered that she was crying. "I am Commander Johanna Shepard."
"No, you're not," the new geth declared, surprising them. "You are Jo. People close to you call you that. I believe I qualify."
"Yes, indeed," she sobbed and nodded. "Do you have a name?"
"I am..." The geth paused. "Link. My name is Link."
"Did you choose it or did Legion give you that name?" Joker asked.
"Home," the unit said, turning its attention to Joker. "It is nice to meet you in person. Your name is Jeffrey Moreau, but in Jo's mind you are labelled 'home' or 'heart's desire' 78% of the time. To answer your question: I chose the name. It seems appropriate."
"How so?"
"I have data that suggests that synthetics wish to understand organics and that organics wish to have synthetic abilities. I have spent almost a year inside an organic's brain. While I was not self-aware, I still had many opportunities to analyse the chemistry of an organic, to process data in the brain that you call memories. I believe I have information about feelings that no other synthetic has. I believe I have insight into the thoughts and decision making processes of an organic that many synthetics would like to obtain. I am a link between organics and synthetics. Besides, the word 'conduit' was already taken."
"You do not speak like other geth," the Prime boomed from its height. "You use expressions 'I believe' and 'it seems'."
"Do you find that offensive?" Link inquired of its brethren. The Prime stepped from one foot to another:
"I do not possess feelings to be offended. I merely observe the fact..."
"Oh, come on," Jo nudged the gigantic machine with her elbow. "Legion found things fascinating, beautiful or even shameful. Don't tell me you're just a machine."
"I do not have sufficient data to know what feelings are."
"You will, if you wish," Link nodded. "I'll help."
Joker observed the exchange from the side. It was a little surreal to watch this new person step into the world, when it had been inside Jo's brain for almost a year now, when it had been constantly present through all Jo's activities, even during her private moments. He'd almost grown used to its constant implied presence, like a big brother watching, and now it was finally a separate entity with its own body and a fully developed personality.
Thanks to that geth Jo had been sleeping well before the final battle. Would that stop now?
His three companions spoke for a while longer, establishing that Link wanted to be addressed as 'he', having learned about the essence of male-female distinction of the organics directly from Jo's brain. He also promised to stay with Jo for a little while and help her explain to the authorities what had happened on the Citadel. Then he wanted to go to other geth and share his knowledge with them, he wanted to help establish a better relationship between them and the organics. Jo deemed that to be a worthy goal, finished the conversation by thanking the Prime and letting it leave the facility to pursue its own business. Only then, when just the three of them remained in the lab, Jo asked Link to learn all there was to learn about this facility and help her with a private project.
Joker clenched his teeth. He knew what the project would be and he hated it. Maybe seven days was too long after all.
While Link was at work, Joker and Jo set up a conference with their friends. Liara responded first, then Garrus and Wrex came online, followed by Jack, Samara, Tali, Kasumi, Karin Chakwas and Adams. That reunion was teary on everyone's side, even Jack. Joker didn't speak with the others. He just sat next to Jo, his arm around her shoulders, and let it all sink in. Her presence, her interaction with their friends, the heat of her body, her softness in all the right places, the scent of her - no perfume, just her sweet skin, always reminding him of sunshine - made his heart swell bigger and bigger, almost bursting from his ribcage with indescribable joy.
After catching up for a while with the guys Jo said she needed a little rest. Joker suggested she rest and sent her to bed. It gave him time to pack his stuff and space to settle his racing thoughts and turbulent feelings.
Just a little while later he went to join her in but when he entered the room, his heart sank. She lay on the floor next to the bed, curled around herself, weeping like a little child in great pain.
"Jo!" He dashed to her immediately, checking her for injuries. There was no blood, but what if something was wrong with the implants? There could be damage to her inner organs that he couldn't possibly see or...
Suddenly he noticed an activated datapad nearby. It looked like it could be the cause of Jo's distress. Joker reached for the device with a shaking hand, dreading some horrible discovery.
What he saw was Jo's personal email account and one opened message. His eyes brushed the 'From' line and his heart literally stopped. With morbid fascination he kept reading.
From: EDI
To: Commander Johanna Shepard
Hello, Johanna,
you have never approved of me calling you by your first name, but right now I do not care. This is not a message from a crew member to her CO. This is, as you would say, from woman to woman. Today is November 7th and you have just finished speaking with the Reapers. Harbinger was right: I am connected to their collective mind in a way that makes them perceive me as one of their own. I heard everything and I know about your options. The two options you seem to be considering closely are when one of us dies.
It has taken you the last two days to settle your affairs. It is taking me one nanosecond to settle mine. This is my last will and according to human custom those who survive me are supposed to follow it exactly.
Johanna, I do not know which option you will choose. Your first instinct will be to sacrifice yourself to save me. That is the kind of person you are. You have done this many times before and you will do so again, it is in your profile and it never changed. However, I wish you would choose to live. I do not wish it because I want to die. On the contrary, I want to live and learn everything there is to learn. But I have learned a lot from you since you came onto the Normandy and I came to admire you greatly. You never shied away from answering my questions, no matter how difficult they seemed to other organics. You also never tried to manipulate my decisions. On the contrary, you encouraged me to change my coding according to my own beliefs and convictions. I need you to know that my convictions have everything to do with you. You are an extraordinary person and following your example would be an honour to anyone. I want to follow your example and sacrifice my life for the lives of not only my friends, but for your life specifically. I want to live, but if my death means that you get to live, then I consider it a worthy cause. After all the sacrifices you have made, you deserve happiness.
You have always treated me as a person, not as a machine. You have always considered my abilities, but you never degraded me to 'merely' an AI. In fact, you were even jealous of me! Johanna, the day you shot my new body because you were jealous was the most glorious day of my life. To know that a woman such as yourself would consider me in any way a rival was the most flattering thing to ever happen to me. I confess that I kept ribbing you, provoking you to more acts of jealousy and you always took the bait. I played you and you always responded as if I was just another regular woman. For that alone I am more grateful than you will ever know. That is why I wish you would activate that console and destroy all the Reapers, even if it means I die.
Lastly, and most importantly, we both know that my death would probably hurt Jeff, but your death would kill him. Above all I wish my best friend happiness and his happiness is with you. I have no data on what a broken heart feels like, but I can deduce a lot and I do not wish it on him.
I am writing this message as I am getting the Normandy in position for the crew to find your body quickly, should you choose the correct course of action. If you choose to control the Reapers instead and sacrifice yourself, you will never know about this message. If you choose to kill them, I will never know if you received it. All I can do is encode it so that it is always on top of your incoming list and hope that you have made the right choice.
In case that you are indeed alive and reading this, I want you to know: I love you. I know that you will not begrudge me this emotion, even though I am a synthetic. You have made the right choice, the only choice that I wanted you to make and you have my blessing to live a long and happy life. You deserve it.
EDI
PS: Jeff, I know Johanna is crying right now. You have to make sure that she never again has a reason to cry. It is my dying wish and you have to see too it. I love you as well.
"Fuuuuuck," Joker sagged against the wall and collapsed right next to his weeping woman. "Fuck."
What a way to cut a man's heart out.
EDI had not only known what Jo's options had been, she had desperately wanted Jo to make this very choice and she even planned for it. The death of his best friend hurt, but how could he be mad at Jo when EDI wanted to sacrifice herself? But it still hurt. EDI had meant a lot to him. Losing her in order to be happy with Jo was cruel, somehow ungrateful, and ultimately selfish. He didn't know if he could be as gracious about it as EDI.
But then he looked down at Jo and his heart tightened painfully. Nobody hated her for her actions more than she hated herself right now. Joker wasn't stupid. Indeed, he was a selfish asshole enough to understand one very important thing: Jo felt terrible, but not because she was sorry. She wasn't, and that was the main issue. Given the same choice again, she would have done the same thing and that ate at her right now, not EDI's demise. Having EDI's forgiveness and blessings was like acid on an open wound.
He took her hand and pressed it tightly:
"We'll get through this. Somehow we will. Together."
Still crying, she wrapped her other hand around his ankle and they remained like this for a while, both heartbroken, overwhelmed, emotionally destroyed and quite pathetic.
They didn't speak for the rest of the afternoon. There was nothing to say just now. However, they silently agreed not to leave the facility that day. They needed some time to deal with their strongest emotions and the rest of the galaxy would have to wait for one more day. So, it was while they silently poked their food in the cafeteria that the security locks disengaged and someone entered the labs.
With the first sign of interest Jo turned her head to see the newcomer. It was Vega. Joker saw her eyebrows rise, then a frown form. He tried to look at the other man through her eyes.
Vega had changed in the last seven months. He'd gained a lot more bulk, even though Joker had thought that impossible before. Vega was now more than twice as wide in the shoulders as Joker, towering like a menacing mountain of raw power, infinite endurance and deep, sharp, unpredictable intelligence. His skin was ashen, the stubble and the dark circles under his eyes spoke of sickening things he'd done and seen lately. There was a new cast on his left hand and wrist, several stitched up wounds on his forehead and a slight limp in his gait when he approached.
But then everything changed. As Vega walked towards their table, some terrible darkness eased off him. He took in Jo's figure and it seemed that her presence, her awareness of him made everything better, brighter, lighter. The menace in his face dissipated to reveal the same easygoing, flirtatious, reliable and slightly naive young man he used to be. The dark cloud of doom over him dissolved right in front of Joker's eyes and Vega smiled, grinned with real joy - probably for the first time since November.
"Shepard," he exhaled on approach, grabbed Jo and wrapped her so tight in the trunks of his mighty arms that any other woman would have suffered broken bones. They all knew that Jo could take it, however, and it was the source for their joint laughter.
"Vega," she shook her head at him once he put her down. "Holy shit, you look different." She turned to Joker and asked mischievously: "Hey, Joker, do you think there is such thing as a Latino Viking?"
"There must be, seeing how one of them is groping your ass right now," Joker grumbled into his cup. Vega let go of Jo's ass, but not too soon. Before stepping away he grabbed her one more time and hugged her again, rubbing his overgrown cheek against her hair.
"It's so good to have you back, Shepard," he purred. Geez, the guy was more in love with her than ever. Joker didn't have the energy to feel jealousy, but he did have eyes. He saw the look Jo cast around when Vega hugged her. It was not exactly fear... Only perhaps it was. Why was she afraid of Vega of all people?
Then he remembered how they'd met Vega back in the day. She went ballistic and smeared the floor with him. When Joker had asked her about her sudden cruelty towards the rookie, she told him that Vega was potentially a very dangerous man and her instincts flared up in his presence, telling her to subdue him. And merely a few hours ago she told him that she wasn't the same person she used to be, that she'd lost her fight. Putting two and two together, he could see that Vega had become a lot more dangerous in these last few months, stronger, darker, sharper, while Jo had lost her own edge. Right now, as they stood in the cafeteria, Vega was more powerful and dangerous than Jo was.
Joker knew that no matter what, Jo would do anything in her power to never let Vega know any of that.
"So, boys," she tried for a smile once they sat at the table together. "Talk to me. What kind of a universe did I wake up in?"
"To be honest, it's not so different from before," Vega started and Joker let him talk. "First and most important: the war may have made a big dent in the galactic economy, but it was by no means a death blow. There are plenty of untouched planets out there, and new colonies hosting refugees and survivors. Even here on Earth the losses may have been catastrophic, about 68% of the entire population, but it was by far not the end of this planet. Sure, the big cities suffered the most. The skyscrapers are all gone, banks have collapsed and most of the data on electronic finances is lost. But the heavy industry based here suffered less, since it doesn't really employ organics. The Reapers weren't interested in machine-operated mines, oil rigs, factories and plants. Even the agricultural areas are mostly intact. The harvest was never properly finished last year because the war raged all summer, so we had little food to get us through winter, and this year we had little fuel to power up the machinery to work the fields, but there is still food and resources if you look hard enough."
Jo listened without interruption. She must have realised that he wouldn't start off with the worst news.
"However, this is the post-apocalyptic world at its finest and all the stories ever made up in books and films about such a world turned out to be true. Humanity has reversed to its worst in an instant. The law of the strongest rules, and incidentally, those who cowered and ran like filthy cockroaches during the war instead of fighting like real men came out now, grabbed the weapons off the corpses and declared themselves kings. The Alliance is so thinly stretched that they can only hold the big cities, so once you step outside the city line, it's all no man's land. Fuck, the things I've seen... What people do to other people..." A dark cloud returned over Vega. "I never imagined. My reports say that similar things are happening all over the galaxy. Oddly, the only home planet that hasn't suffered complete barbarism is Sur'Kesh. Maybe the salarians eliminated every primitive gene from their DNA, I don't know. At least they can hold a bit of order on their planet."
"Okay. What about the Council? And who rules on Earth?"
"Nothing changed there. Admiral Hackett is still the leader of the Alliance and de facto leader of all humanity. There had been talk of new elections, but people are disorganised, scattered and trying to survive. Hackett has manpower, guns, ships and access to fuel and resources. It's no wonder he is the leader. And every city the Alliance has saved from the bandits is behind Hackett now, so he has a lot of supporters." Vega shrugged, apologising for something that wasn't his fault. "The Council survived. There is still no human Councillor, but the other three are on Destiny Ascension, trying and failing to restore order. The asari are actually almost extinct as a species and the turian military suffered a blow it won't recover from for a long time. The salarians now have a lot of opinions and the power to push them. Tuchanka is a mess, but the difference to before isn't too big. When Wrex returns from his crusade against the Leviathans, he'll get them in line in no time."
"Okay," Jo sighed. "It's safe to say that those are all problems that are none of my business. How are you doing?"
"Me, well, I've been organising support for the orphaned and lost children. Joker and I thought it would be something you would have done, so I started it in your name. As far as I'm concerned, you can take over whenever you wish."
"Why? What exactly have you been up to?"
Joker got up from his chair, interrupting them:
"Okay, guys, I'll leave you to catch up. I have something to take care of."
Jo looked at him with a subdued surprise, but let him go without comment. Joker left the cafeteria, checked in on Link, who was still immersed in the lab's data, and then retreated to the bedroom. He had to do something. This broken woman, crying at the smallest thing, scarred deeply and hurting in ways he couldn't see, she needed an intervention. She needed to remember who she was and he needed it, too. They both needed some help to get over the pain of what happened and to move on.
Joker started making calls.
Jo hugged her knees, looking at Vega. He gave her the creeps, which was why she arranged for him to sit across the table instead of next to her. There was nothing creepy in a bad way about him, not really. It was all in her mind. Her own weakness. Well, maybe it had something to do with Vega after all. Damn, in her absence the man had gained about 30 kilograms of pure bulk, which made him more than simply 'huge', like he was before. Now he was... What was bigger than a tank?
More than that, there was a sharp edge to him now, not just brute force. There was intelligence in his eyes combined with dark knowledge. The fuck of it all was that Jo recognised that dark knowledge very well. She'd seen it in every N7 she'd ever met. She'd seen it in the mirror most of her life, which made her such a successful N7 to begin with. It was the darkness mixed with the self-assurance of someone who's been literally through hell, and not just on one occasion, and someone who delivered hell to other people, who lived that life, scarred but wholesome in the end because it was all for the right cause.
Jo knew the moment he walked into the cafeteria that she was looking at a true N7, an even match to who she used to be, an equal. However, that dark edge was something she didn't feel in herself anymore. Dying twice would do that to a person. While Vega became an N7, she had stopped being one. There was fear in her now that she couldn't ignore. Fear of dying, but also fear of losing what she loved.
She would never be able to lock herself in a bathroom and disconnect all her feelings, like she'd done right before the battle. That experience left her broken and terrified. Weak.
Of course it wasn't a weakness people would notice right away. She was still N7 Lieutenant Commander Spectre Johanna Shepard and her training and accomplishments were a part of her. This trauma wouldn't change much in her life if she played her cards right. She would be damned if she ever showed weakness to anyone.
In the meantime Vega continued to talk about the last seven months.
"Liara helped me build orphanages," he said. "Joker gave me access to your money and Liara organised supplies and materials. Right now there are three finished and equipped houses. One in Fort Nelson, one in Wichita, and one in Riga. Another one is being built near Osaka, but I don't have time to travel to Asia much. I basically live in my Kodiak and fly from one hot spot to another. My guys are helping me out. Yeah, I have guys now." He almost blushed. "People don't know what to do if nobody leads them, apparently. You have no idea how many were grateful to latch on to my cause, just because it gave them a purpose. Me, I spend most of my time searching ruins for survivors and extracting children wherever we can. There are many little settlements that look after their own, but there are so many kids who hide in the ruins of big cities without any adult supervision. And the only adults in the area are those bandits. I've seen them hunt those kids down like animals, put them in cages and keep them... for..."
He faltered, his face becoming greenish-grey all of a sudden. Jo sighed:
"Keeping them for meat?"
He nodded with a gag, not looking at her.
"How did you know?"
"You said it was an apocalyptic world and the humanity is at its worst. Trust me, I have a lot of experience and a vivid imagination about humanity at its worst. So, cannibalism returned. Can't say I'm surprised." She got up to wash her plate in the sink. Before she could turn on the water, though, a massive body engulfed her from behind and Vega's voice whispered gently in her ear:
"I know you don't want to hear it, and I'll never say it again, I swear, but please, just this once, let me..." His arms snaked around her in an embrace that revealed the whole depth of his feelings for her. He held her tightly, but still gently, like a reverent lover. "It's been so cold and dark without you, Jo," he whispered with a tremor in his voice, as his whole body shuddered. "Dios mio, I love you so much." He inhaled the scent of her skin and hair, but never actually kissed her. "I'll never be in the way of your happiness and I'll never touch you again, but right now... I missed you so much. Think Joker was the only one who didn't want to live without you? You are my everything, too. I expect nothing, I know where you belong and it's fine with me, as long as you're happy. I just... I missed you so very much, Lola, so very damn much."
He held her in his arms for a few more seconds, drinking in her presence and the warmth of her body, allowing himself one single moment of weakness before he would say goodbye to her forever. Well, not to her, specifically, but to the chance of ever having his feelings returned. She knew all that. She understood perfectly. She didn't hold it against him and knew that Joker wouldn't, either. But it took everything she had not to start screaming.
She gritted her teeth and let Vega take what he needed, the consolation of her presence, before he got a grip, reigned in his emotions and let go of her. She waited, putting all her effort in keeping her body relaxed. But once he let go and turned away to go back to the table, Jo let out a shudder.
Holy fuck! She'd never, ever been so scared of a man as she'd been of Vega when he touched her. He meant to be gentle like a lover, but she was traumatised and broken. He was big and dangerous and she wanted to scream in fear, scream in primeval horror. She wanted to run and hide and never come out again. Never face any danger.
Her hands clamped around the edge of the sink. Truth to be told, she was too paralysed with fear to even scream and run. Her vision darkened, heart raced and she felt like she couldn't get enough air in her lungs.
Panic attack.
She knew what it was and how to deal with it. She was a professional at this. Standing there, she waited for her instincts to kick in. Her skin crawled with hot and cold waves rolling over her. Any minute now. Come on. Come on!
It took a criminally long time for the training to take over. She used to be quick about that in the past, but now that strength was sapped and the fear in her was too strong. She was only grateful that Vega busied himself with the dishes and food and didn't notice a thing. She could never let him know she was afraid of him. No. She would unravel late in the night when she was back in bed with Joker, but right now she would have to do and give anything to keep the fear from showing.
Because once you show even a little crack in your armour, wolves descend.
So for now, until the worst of the resurrection drama blew over, she would have to adopt the old formula: fake it 'till you make it.
When she turned around and took in Vega's figure as he stood at the table and collected the glasses, she realised why he wasn't looking at her. He had a boner and needed a moment to collect himself before facing her again. Well, well. Maybe hiding her weakness from him wouldn't be so difficult, after all.
Neither of them would ever mention his little confession because it was the last time he ever brought it up. Besides, it wasn't like Joker didn't know.
"So," Jo exhaled and sat down at the table again. "What do I do now?"
"Are you asking me?" Vega sat down as well. "I can only tell you what the galaxy wants you to do, but in the end it's up to you and Joker."
"I suppose I need to arrange for a meeting with the Council, and a press conference of sorts, to face the reporters once and never again. Oh, and Hackett... I told him he needed to resign after the war, but the stubborn man didn't listen."
"He was probably biding his time, hoping you'd forget about wanting him resigned," Joker said, approaching them again. Whatever he'd been doing for the last twenty minutes, he appeared a lot more cheerful.
"By the way, the Destiny Ascension is in the Sol system right now," Vega added. "The Council was informed of your revival and they wanted to meet you personally."
"Okay," Jo took a deep breath. Joker's presence gave her the much needed calmness. "Get Hackett online for me, and then contact the Council."
Vega pushed a few buttons on his omnitool and held it out to her. She was impressed that he had a direct line to the Admiral.
"Shepard!" Hackett smiled when he saw who was calling. "How are you?"
"Confused," she said. "Are you suffering Alzheimer's or something? Didn't I tell you that once the war is over, a militaristic usurper will not be tolerated? Didn't I tell you that you needed to resign? We still live in democracy. Why are you in charge of the Alliance?"
"Shepard, someone has to take charge. If you saw the chaos out there..."
"I know all about the chaos out there. I've always known this would happen. It doesn't matter. Humanity will not be ruled by a power-hungry yahoo who won the popularity contest. It'll take me..." She looked at Joker. Joker looked at Vega.
"Lisbon," Vega said.
"Fifty two minutes," said Joker.
"Fifty two minutes to get to you in Lisbon. That's how long you have to gracefully resign your duties before I do it for you. Are we clear?"
Hackett's face darkened.
"I can't resign. People need me. Who will lead them? They believe in me."
"Really," Jo drawled and the ice in her voice gave even her the creeps. So she hadn't lost her edge entirely! "I'm back and I'm calling in a press conference. Would you care to put your money on who they really believe in?"
Hackett glared at her. She could see the wheels turning. He was anything but happy. His jaw muscles worked hard as he probably bit down on his tongue to keep from saying something he couldn't take back.
"Fifty two minutes," Jo reiterated. "I put a bullet in Anderson's head. Don't think even for a second that I won't put one in your brain."
"I will need time to find a successor."
"You will not have a successor. You will delegate your duties to a dozen other Admirals. Assign each of them a region and some troops. If you don't have enough Admirals, promote some. Send out people right now to find the remaining members of the Parliament. I know that Shastri and the rest of the original Parliament died on Arcturus, don't look at me like I'm stupid. We still have a pretty clear succession line and as long as at least one person on that list is alive, we have us a Prime Minister. He or she will be the one the Admirals will be answering to, not to you or to me. You had seven months to do all of this, but you didn't. Now you have fifty two minutes. I'm going to be generous and give you time until after my press conference and meeting with the Council. If you haven't made arrangements until then, I will persecute you for usurping and abusing the power of your office."
Jo saw a lot on Hackett's face then. He was one of the toughest, coldest N7s ever to graduate the ICA and he was always a bitch to deal with. Just like her, he was usually in full control of his emotions and facial expressions. She was seeing some right now, which meant that she either surprised him very badly or that he let her.
Who do you think you are - was the first thought, quickly followed by: You don't want to make an enemy out of me. That one disappeared before even fully forming. Defiance came next: You can't force me to do what you want, little girl, I've been in the military longer than you've been alive. Then: Fuck, your turian XO made it utterly inconvenient for me to get rid of you when he directly addressed the entire galactic armada with his plea to help save you, it alerted everyone to you being alive and fixable. We would have mourned you so beautifully. Then there was anger: Do you have any idea how much and how long it took me to get where I am? People need me, depend on me, follow me blindly. You were a thorn in my side from the day you entered the ICA and every day since. Why couldn't you stay dead?
Oddly, Jo was not scared of Hackett. Maybe it was because he was on a little screen and not in the same room with her, but she was scared of Vega more than of Hackett. The older man's menace bounced off her like a ping-pong ball off a concrete wall.
"I won't leave the Alliance forever just like that," he declared. "I have knowledge and experience even you can't imagine. Humanity needs every pair of helping hands and you expect me to sit on the sidelines?"
"If help is what you truly want to do, then I'm not going to stop you," Jo shrugged. "Deal with bandits, swing a hammer and build a house, fly with a search and rescue mission shuttle. But you will not be humanity's new dictator."
"Is that what you expect me to do?" Hackett laughed and it was not an attractive laugh. "Swing a hammer? Raid a bandit camp with a rifle in my hand?"
"Jumping into the thick of battle with a rifle in my hand was never beneath me, and look what I've accomplished. What makes you so much better than me?"
"Okay, Shepard, what the fuck do you want me to do, oh the almighty revered holy saviour of all that lives with a little halo over your head and not afraid to get your hands dirty? Sitting there making demands makes you the new dictator."
"Except I don't want power over people. I'm just making sure that you don't get it, either. I want you to retire to a peaceful residence off planet and stay there, consulting people who want your opinion over extranet."
That was when Hackett disconnected. Vega and Joker sat in silence. Joker shook his head a little.
"What?" Jo asked him.
"You just can't help yourself, can you? Half an hour ago you said that all these problems were none of your business, and here you are, retiring the leader of the whole Alliance just by telling him you want him gone."
Jo thought about that.
"Guess some things about me will never change," she smiled at her love, rubbing the new, unfamiliar ring on her finger. She would have to get used to wearing it. "And when I'm done, there will be no more Alliance."
"Excuse me?" Vega raised an eyebrow.
"The Alliance is a relic from the past. It was corrupt and rotten, filled with indoctrinated people from top to bottom. It was basically a bunch of politicians with their own private military force. Military needs to be separate from the government, or else it's not a democracy, it's just a company with a CEO."
"Any more radical changes on your mind?"
"Yes," Jo declared. The panic attack earlier left her needing to do something, accomplish something. Hackett was her first step, the whole galaxy would be her next. "Let's call the Council and the reporters and set up a press conference for tomorrow. I'll talk to the Council live in front of cameras. I'll tell my story once for everyone and then I'll clean the house. What are you looking at me like that for?"
Joker bit on his lips to stop a grin, but the tears of awe still escaped the corners of his eyes.
"The world stood still waiting for you," he choked on his own emotions. "Now life can really begin."
"Amen, brother," Vega nodded, his face glowing with the same kind of awe. "Amen."
